Helmet from the Sutton Hoo ship-burial 1, England.
British Museum [CC BY-SA 2.5 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5)]
Hengist’s son Hadugast, his successor, remained in Saxony and his son Hulderich (also known under the name of Childerich), born 584 AD, fought and protected for the first time the Saxonian territories against the powerful, aspiring Franconians, another Germanic tribe. This conflict should prove fateful to the Saxons over the next centuries.
Around 630 AD, Hulderich’s son Sieghart (also known as Sigismund) reigned over the Saxons.
His son Dietrich, in skirmishes with the Franconians, now led by Karl Martell, was captivated and imprisoned.
Karl Martell (688 – 741AD), nicknamed the “Hammer”, son of Pipin II, was mayor of the Franconian palace. He managed to bring earlier domains of the Franconian kingdom under his control and fought the aggressive Moslems at Tour, pushing eastward towards various Germanic tribes.
Under him, the two principal elements of feudalism, the fief and vassalage developed, and the historic alliance between the Frankonian Kingdom and the Papacy began.
While Dietrich was in captivity, his wife, a duchess from the Wendish country, had two sons:
King Edelgard and Duke Warnekin. Edelgard died 753 A.D. in a battle with Pipin the Short, who is the father of Charles the Great (Charlemagne).
After this battle, Pipin the Short was the first to march into the heartland of the Saxons, all the way to the fortified castle of Rehme, located direct on the Weser River.
The Long Struggle between the Saxons and the Franks
(The land of our ancestors)
Warnekin, after succeeding his brother as king of the Saxons, had two children (sons) with his wife Kunhilde, a princess from the island of Ruegen: -- Wittekind (also known as Wedekind) and Bruno.
In 758 AD Wittekind became Duke of Engern, Westphalia, and Saxony.
He spent his childhood between Warnekin`s court at the mountain stronghold “Babilonie” in the Wiehengebirge between Herford and Osnabrück and the ancestral castle in Wigaldishausen (=Wildeshausen) on the Hunte River.
His dukedom, the free land of the Saxons, extended from the Lower-Rhine-Valley eastward to the Weser River and all the way to the Wendish (Slavic) territory in the East. (fig.:#11)
While Wittekind lived according to the old customs of his ancestors, King Karl, at the same time, tried to spread Christianity. Later in history, King Karl was named “Charlemagne”.
And while the Saxons had built a number of fortified places (Soest, Iserlohn, Hohensyburg, Seiler, Arnsberg, Eresburg, etc.) against the pressing Franks, King Karl, at the same time, gathered his “Royal-Court” in Worms and proclaimed war against the Saxons.
The Franconian records report a statement from King Karl: “First the castles and then the hearts”.
Saxon versus Franks around 800 AD
Some details of the 30 year long struggle are shown in the graph below: (fig.:#11)
A “stronghold” is a fortified place at the time = bulwark on hills surrounded by stockades and walls of soil and woodwork. (fig.:#11)
Why these details?
Because the conflict between Wittekind and King Charles (Charlemagne), resulted finally in the bloody subjugation of the Saxons and was another major turning point in the history of our area.
The map of fig.:#11 shows a number of fortified places which the Saxons used in their struggle against their neighbours in later years, especially against the Franconians, another Germanic tribe.
The thrust of the Franconian army was pushing alongside the Weser River towards the heart of the Engern people, one of the four tribes of the Saxons. This expedition left a trail of devastation behind: Farms and grain fields went up in flame. There was robbing, and looting, etc.
As always in the long history of mankind: the farmers took most the brunt of the harm.
The story of this conflict is mostly based upon two sources: the Franconian narrative (some in writing), and the abundant information included in the Saxon version, passed on through generations and kept alive in numerous legends.
Wittekind and Geva, a daughter of Godefried, the king of Denmark, had three daughters: Ida, Ravena, and Tekla. He built a fortified castle for each of them: Iburg for Ida, Ravensburg for Ravena and Tecklenburg for Tekla.
Those three castles protected the chain-mountains of the Teutoburger Wald against aggressors.
Iburg, as the saying goes, was the strongest foothold against the Franks. From here, Wittekind directed a series of assaults; and yet he could not hold the ground for long. As Iburg was lost, he moved to Ravensburg; and this stronghold was soon taken by the Franks as well. This made him move to Tecklenburg. Finally, King Karl overran Tecklenburg also, and he dismantled all three of them thoroughly.
Later on, the three castles were re-erected: Ravensburg gave the surrounding area its name and was home to generations of counts. Iburg became the summer residence of the bishop of Osnabrück.
Tecklenburg, finally, was home to generations of so called “Reichsfreie” Counts (reichsfrei = nobility status throughout the Middle-Ages, comparable to the baronage) until the county became part of Prussia in 1707 A.D.
But for the Saxons all resistance was eventually in vain. The battle at Lübbecke in 775 A.D. and at Süntel, as well as Karl’s retaliatory strike in 782 A.D. at Verden/Aller, brought Wittekind’s stampede to an end and led to his subjugation in 785 A.D. After that victory in Aller, Karl ordered a severe punishment against the Saxons, where on a single day about4500 Saxon noblemen were slaughtered, and Wittekind:
Quote: “Bowed his neck into the baptismal font”.
In a three day battle, the Saxons under Wittekind were defeated in the midst of their stronghold near Osnabrück. From here, near the battle field along the Hase River, the conversion of the Saxons to Christianity took place.
And as such, the bishopric of Osnabrück was founded in 785 AD.
King Karl, using sound military considerations, appointed ecclesiastical satraps (military clergymen).
The bishops in Osnabrück as well as in other Saxonian centers had only moderate success in getting along with the local people.
To them, the christening, the Roman prayer book and the Franconian culture were distinctly strange.
But after more than thirty years of struggling with the Saxons, Charlemagne (King Karl) had achieved his goal of spreading Christianity throughout his empire.
(See fig.:#12 and #13)
Christianity after Charlemagne
Around (814 A.D.)
(fig.:#12)
Population in Central Europe around 900 A.D.
(fig.: # 13)
Charlemagne Establishes the Tithe in the Area
When Charlemagne assembled his Court at Lippspringe (around 782 A.D.), he issued harsh statutes against the Saxons: the “Capitulatio de partibus Saxonae”. Only two from 14 laws are quoted here:
---“Everyone is to be doomed (beheaded) who clings to his old believe, and who conspires against Christians,